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Music in the Empire
The Sons of Heaven have a saying that music is part of nature and an integral part of the human experience. The fact that every nation in the Empire had their own traditional form of music prior to the arrival of the Mikado does point in that direction, especially with how easily people took to the musical direction the Sons of Heaven brought with them. While poetry remains the dominant art in the Empire, most songs now include a singer which includes an important portion of poetry, which blends the line between the two. Music is also far more popular with the masses, compared to sculpture or painting, so the importance of music in the Empire is critical. History of music in the Empire Prior to the Imperial Conquest, traditionnal music was used everywhere in different forms, with no unifying elements. Yunjin and Tarizoku music were fairly close (in a way similar to the poetry of the two groups), using plucked string instruments and wood winds sometimes accompanying a singer. Ganizoku music using similar instruments but rather different tonal scales and much heavier emphasis on drums. Nittan music was important in all important rituals, featuring a lot woodwinds, brass instruments and a few plucked string instruments. Most Nittan plays also included a song or two sung by the chorus or the main character. All those styles were quite different and followed different rules, making crossing the genres quite difficult, and since almost all of the art was built on a "watch and learn" approach made it difficult for people to pick it up. The conquest changed things quite a lot. One of the things that was introduced by the Onmyou, inadvertently, was the idea of musical notation and standardization. The Onmyouji didn't actually know that such a thing was almost unknown from the locals of the Empire, and the arrival of the concept of tonic (pentatonic , which was mainly used by the Yunjin, and heptatonic , which was favoured by the Nittan) scales, measures, coding of musical patterns and simplification of musical instruments transformed the traditonnal music into an art form almost anyone could get into. The Sons of Heaven had their own forms of music, ranging from rythmic, rhyming singing to overly elaborate songs featurings 50 or more musicians. As most of the Sons of Heaven were soldiers, their understanding of music was quite limited, but marching songs and regimental music was quite popular at first. The merging of these styles with the local traditonnal styles led to a renewal of music and a spread of the genre across the Empire. Almost anyone remembers traditionnal planting songs from their village and nursery rhymes, but ancient Sons of Heaven songs are also sung by quite a few people, even though some of the instruments they could be played on often have to be replaced with their local equivalent. Popular musical styles in the Empire Enka Enka is one of the most popular musical style in the Empire, but oddly enough, nobody really admits to listening to it. People sometime think that Enka is traditional Tarizoku music, but it is actually a quite modern style inspired from old Sons of Heaven style of music combined with the style of traditional Tarizoku music, especially in regards to instruments used. This music style is based on a single singer with a few backup instruments to provide a melody. Common themes of such music is sadness, loss of a loved one, someone going to war not to come back, people not understanding your suffering and, of course, broken dreams of love. This overly depressive state of affair seems at odd with much of the common ideas of the Empire, which is progressive and celebrates life and happiness, but this might actually be the main attraction of this style, as people often feel sad even in a land which does not promote it. This style is immensely popular after conflicts in a region or when a lord has to go with a political marriage instead of a marriage of love, reflecting the feelings of the general population rather than the feelings that the bureaucracy tries to impose on people. Good enka singers usually wear simple kimonos when singing, putting an emphasis on their music and talent rather then on their own person. Rock And Roll A style of music brought over by the Sons of heaven, Rock and Roll is a strange style of music which features a singer and a few instrumentalists, usually a guitar, some form of bass and a drum kit with various percussive instruments to accompany the other musicians. The style is very codified, with specific forms people have to follow (4 beats per measure, 8 measure sections, Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Verse format) and ancient rock songs are the basis of a lot of the education of young musicians, with groups called "the Stones", "The Beatles" and "Led Zeppelin" forming the basis of this education. A lot of these songs are in an ancient Sons of Heaven language which is not understood by most of the population, but translated / modified versions of songs like "Stairway to Heaven" have surfaced, but those who understand the original music often say those are bastardizations and should not be performed. Rock and Roll is the basis for a lot of styles used in the Empire. Jazz Another ancient Sons of heaven style, Jazz is far less standardized than Rock and Roll and leaves a lot of liberty to its performers, even though it follows similar rules as Rock and Roll in many regards. Quite often, young pupils who are unable to rock go into jazz and find it a much calmer atmosphere. Jazz uses almost all the possible instruments and can feature a singer, but it is not essential. While the rythm is driven by a single individual, the rest of the group, which can include as little as 3 to almost 16 individuals, follows a basic melody and improvises a lot of the time, displaying the individuality of each performer. This is quite reactionnary, as most of the Empire is always about "acting as a group", but the fact that all the musicians have to be on the same page to make sure the song doesn't turn into a cacophony does follow the more traditional style of music favoured by the Imperial authorities. Light Music Light music is a Imperial derivative of Rock and Roll, borrowing from both Enka and Rock and Roll, to create a distinct musical style which is usually favoured by the youth. Using more traditional instruments and styles than Rock and Roll, but following the stricter rules of Rock and Roll, this make an enjoyable music which anyone can partake in without much thought. Themes in Light Music are FAR lighter than in Enka, with the singer singing about just about anything, from baking cakes to falling in love for the first time. Opera Operas are long, sung plays very popular in Nittan in the traditional Sons of Heaven style, and popular in its "regional" style (No) in Tarigani lands. The singers sing different songs to drive forward the story, with No having a much bigger focus on dance then singing, but all styles of opera are very intensive in terms of the accompanying music. Parts of operas are sometimes performed simply "as background music", but the heavy focus on the story often makes these performance confusing for some of the listeners. Operas are quite popular with the upper Warrior Caste and rich merchants of the Empire, with the peasants very rarely partaking in them. There is a style of opera, called "Rock Opera", which combines rock and roll with operas, but many of the stories told in these ancient Sons of Heaven plays are confusing to people not well-versed in the history of the Sons of Heaven. The Pan-Imperial Musical Contest One of the features of Imperial music is the immensely popular Pan-Imperial Musical Contest, where every region of the Empire with a School of Imperial Music is allowed to send a musician or a band to compete in the capital of the last region that won the contest, every 3 years. Representatives of the School of Imperial Music vote on which of songs they prefer, having an allowance of 100 points to give out during the contest, for a maximum of 10 points, but they are not allowed to vote on the song from their region. People participating in the conest are also allowed to vote on which song they prefer from the other performers, but only have 50 points to give out. Many popular bands had their start at the contest, which is known for being incredibly cheesy, with a strong bias towards beautiful women, lame lyrics and enka songs with themes like "old age" and "sadness in regards to being too old". Alternate contests, following a more or less similar set of rules but with a less obvious bias, do exist and some artists particpate in multiple contests to make sure they get the exposure they need. Category:Background Category:Culture